Last month, the European Council decided to open European Union (EU) accession negotiations with Ukraine and to grant candidate status to Georgia. Regardless of how long it will take each country to meet the requirements and join the EU, the twenty-seven-member bloc should expand its existing capacity-building projects and trade ties with both of them
Amid mounting concerns over the future of Western military aid for Ukraine, it is worth stressing that Ukrainians remain sincerely grateful for the international support their country has already received over the past two years. At the same time, it is also important to underline the contributions Ukraine itself has made, and continues to make,
There is no disguising the disquiet in today’s Ukraine as the country braces itself for what promises to be an exceptionally difficult year. The optimism of early 2023 has been replaced by a far gloomier outlook that reflects the failure of Ukraine’s much-hyped counteroffensive and mounting alarm over delays in vital military aid from the
In the first days of 2024, the Ukrainian authorities unveiled a vision for the future of the country’s State Customs Service as an emerging eastern customs border for the entire European Union. This ambitious goal aims to build on Ukraine’s traditional status as a gateway nation between the EU, Asia, and the Middle East. It
Georgia sits outside the European Union (EU) despite Georgians overwhelmingly supporting a Euro-Atlantic future. In 2022, a poll by the International Republican Institute found that 85 percent of Georgians wanted their country to join the EU, while Georgia’s constitution codifies EU and NATO membership as national priorities. Georgian ambitions received a boost in December 2023,
Speaking at his annual Valdai meeting in October 2023, Vladimir Putin confidently declared that Ukrainian Black Sea port Odesa is “certainly a Russian city.” The Kremlin dictator has long been notorious for such casual denials of Ukrainian statehood, but on this occasion he could not have been more mistaken. While Odesa has a rich legacy
Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Beijing to meet with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, as Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russian invaders stalled. Commentators have frequently pointed the finger at Ukraine’s military or its Western supporters for insufficient armaments deliveries to Ukraine. But it is important to acknowledge another vital factor behind Ukraine’s struggle to regain its land—the People’s
The European Commission is expected to give Ukraine the green light to begin EU accession talks in early November, marking a significant step forward in the country’s European integration ambitions. The recommendation, which may come with additional conditions related to the fight against corruption and the rights of minorities, would set the stage for EU
Subscribe to the Global China Hub On October 7, the world witnessed a barbaric attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists. We also received unequivocal confirmation of China’s unwillingness to take risks on the global stage commensurate with its bid to be viewed as a leading power, even in support of a supposed friend. Beijing has
